Singapore condemns in the strongest terms these attacks and all other forms of terrorism. The perpetrators of these terrible crimes cannot go unpunished. They must be brought to justice. Others must be deterred from contemplating similar horrific acts.
Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani
The small island of Pulau Bukom is situated just a few kilometres to the south of Singapore and is currently the site of the Shell oil refinery. The company’s association with the island dates back to 1891 when Shell used the island as a store for kerosene. The tranquil island was the scene of a terror attack on January 31, 1974, when a group of four terrorists attempted to blow up the refinery.
The group of four terrorists comprised of two men from the Japanese Red Army (JRA), or ‘Sekigun’, and two Arabs from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The JRA has had a long-term relationship with the PFLP, possibly due to the fact that their centre and training camp was based in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon. They had carried out other terror attacks together, the most notable one being the massacre of 26 people at Israel’s Lod Airport in May 1972. The mission of these four men was to blow up three oil storage tanks belonging to the Shell Eastern Petroleum Company, situated on the island of Pulau Bukom, with the aim of disrupting the oil supply from Singapore to other countries, especially South Vietnam.
To reach the island, the four men had commandeered a small boat, but their mission hit problems right from the beginning. As they tried to steer their craft towards Pulau Bukom, they felt something hit the underneath of their vessel. Looking into the water, they realized that they had run aground on some coral reef. Unsure of what to do next, the four men waited until they managed to trick an unsuspecting boatmen to tow them to the shore of the island.
Once on dry land, the four men – carrying submachine guns and explosives – climbed over the sea wall and ran towards the gates of the Shell refinery. The terrorists fired at a tanker as it tried to enter the gates but failed to stop the driver. They also fired at an engineer who was working on the island, but he too managed to escape unharmed. There was only one guard at the security post and, although he was taken by surprise, he managed to escape and raised the alarm.
Out of the 12 explosive devices the terrorists were carrying, they only managed to actually detonate three of them, and these caused little damage. Realizing that their mission had been a complete failure, the four men had to think quickly about how best to escape the island. Seeing the Laju ferry at the Bukom jetty, they decided they would hijack the vessel and take the five crew members hostage. The ferry headed out to sea, quickly pursued by marine police boats. When they reached the Eastern Anchorage, the small boat was intercepted and was blocked in by 15 marine police boats, custom launches and three Singapore Maritime Command gunboats.
Using the five crew members as bait, the terrorists started to make their demands. The negotiations went on for several days, in which time two of the hostages managed to escape by jumping overboard. Later after many hours of intense bargaining, the terrorists agreed to release the remaining three hostages in return for a selection of ‘guarantors’, which included four commandos from the Singapore Armed Forces and eight government officials. The group of ‘guarantors’ was led by MINDEF’s Director of Security & Intelligence, Sellapan Ramanathan (also known as S. R. Nathan), who later became the President of Singapore.
The plan was to move the terrorists from the Laju on the night of February 7 and transfer them to the Marine Police Headquarters, and from there a minibus would pick them up and take them to the airport. Before they left the boat, the three terrorists covered their faces with hoots and tied the three remaining hostages, securing their hands behind their backs. Determined not to let anything else go wrong, the terrorists held the hostages at gunpoint during the entire 30-minute journey to the Marine Police jetty.
On arriving at the airport, the terrorists, true to their word, immediately freed their hostages and surrendered all their weapons. They left Singapore for Kuwait on February 8, along with the members of S. R. Nathan’s team, subsequently ending a very delicate situation.
The ‘Laju’ incident, as it has become known, shows the skill with which the Singapore Armed Forces Commandos handled their role as ‘guarantor’. They formed in 1969 as an elite branch of the Singapore Armed Forces with the aim of specializing in neutralizing delicate situations in enemy territories. The term ‘guarantor’ was not really used until 1997, and was a term for a mediator who would take part in the negotiations between disputing parties. Due to the vigilance of their Internal Security Department, the Singapore government was able to foil the attempts of people who wanted to harm their country.
Therefore, the steps we have taken over the years have been to ensure that Singapore is safe and secure.
Minister Wong